Stampless Stories: A Postal History of America

**Colonial America**
Lot	Sym.	Lot Description
1		1683 (Apr. 25) from Roger Haydock in England to Phineas Pemberton in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Folded cover clearly addressed "These, For his Esteemed friend, Phineas Pemberton, in ye County of Bucks, in Ponsillvania, in Amerika, Wth Caer [with Care]", the side panel is neatly docketed with sender's name and mailing date in Quaker format, "Roger Haydock, Warrington, 4 mo 25 1683, to Phineas Pemberton, Bucks County" AN IMPORTANT EARLY COVER ADDRESSED TO PHINEAS PEMBERTON SOON AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN AMERICA IN SEPTEMBER 1682. PEMBERTON, ONE OF THE FIRST ENGLISH QUAKERS TO SETTLE IN PENNSYLVANIA, WAS DESCRIBED BY WILLIAM PENN AS THE ABLEST AS WELL AS ONE OF THE BEST MEN IN THE PROVINCE.” In April 1683 the well-known Quaker minister, Roger Haydock, residing at Warrington in Cheshire County, England, mailed this cover to his friend, Phineas Pemberton, shortly after Pemberton arrived in the American Colonies in September 1682 (Emigrants to Pennsylvania 1641-1819, A Partial List of the Families Who Resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Prior to 1687, p. 26). Haydock was later imprisoned for his religious activities in Lancaster, England, from December 1684 until March 1686. Phineas Pemberton was William Penn’s chief administrator in Bucks County and was Falls Township’s most prominent citizen. He and his father-in-law, James Harrison, and his own father, Ralph Pemberton, arrived with Quaker emigrants from Bolton, Lancashire, England, in 1682 on the ship Submission. They settled on 300 acres opposite Bordentown, New Jersey, on the bend of the Delaware River just below Biles Island, near the tract of Pennsbury that Penn reserved for himself. He and James Harrison named it Grove Place.” William Penn received the Charter of Pennsylvania from King Charles II in 1681. Penn’s cousin was appointed deputy governor of the province in 1681, and Penn himself arrived in Pennsylvania in October 1682. According to Foot-Prints of a Letter Carrier: or A History of the World’s Correspondence by James Rees, in July 1683 Penn granted authority to establish a post to Henry Waldy of Tekonay (now Tacony). The postage rates were as follows: Letters from the Falls, 3d.; to Chester, 5d.; to New Castle, 7d.; to Maryland, 9d.; and from Philadelphia to Chester, 2d.; to New Castle, 4d.; and to Maryland, 6d.” The post ran weekly. Another reference to the Waldy Post will be found in Ter Braake (p. C-5). This letter probably took at least 70 days to reach an American port, which would date its arrival to around mid-July 1683, coinciding with the month Waldy’s post is reported to have been authorized by William Penn. However, there are no postal markings to confirm that this cover was actually carried by Waldy. Ex Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 7,500-10,000 SOLD for $8,000.00 Will close during Public Auction
2		1708, Privately-Carried Ship Letter from Philadelphia to Jamaica. Folded cover neatly addressed To Jonathn. Dickinson, To be left with Ezeikeil Gommersale, Mercht., In Jamaica, These” with sender’s directive p Capt Bayly” (captain of the Hannah), receipt docketing Philadia 22 9ber 1708, Isaac Norris Lettr. p ye Hannah...Bayly Commandr. who arrived Xber 9 & carried to hand the 25 Decembr” -- written by Isaac Norris in Philadelphia on November 22, arrived at the Gomersall Plantation in Jamaica on December 9, and received by Jonathan Dickinson on December 25 -- small erosion spot in address, part of back panel missing, still Very Fine and rare early mail from the American Colonies to Jamaica. The sender, Isaac Norris (1671-1735) was a wealthy Quaker merchant, mayor of Philadelphia and official of the province of Pennsylvania. The Norris family emigrated from England to Jamaica around 1678, but after Isaac’s father and other members were killed in the great earthquake of 1692, he settled in Philadelphia and prospered as a merchant and politician. The addressee, Jonathan Dickinson (1663-1722), was a Quaker merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica, who gained fame after he, his family and crew on board the Reformation were shipwrecked off the Florida coast in 1696 and held captive by Jobe Indians (spelled Hoe-bay” by Dickinson). The group was released and allowed to travel 230 miles up the coast to Saint Augustine, but the party was harassed and physically abused by the Indians throughout the journey. During the arduous trip, five members of the Dickinson party died from exposure and starvation. Spanish authorities in Saint Augustine received the surviving members of the party and sent them by canoe to Charleston, South Carolina, where they were able to find passage to their original destination, Philadelphia. Dickinson’s family eventually settled there, and he prospered as a merchant and real estate owner. Jonathan Dickinson’s journal, written in 1697, is the earliest description of Native American culture in eastern Florida. The Dickinson family was related to the Gomersalls of Jamaica. Colonel Ezekiel Gomersall (1663-1734) was a prominent sugar plantation owner in Kingston. The Cherry Garden Great House is currently standing on the original Gomersall property. After the colonel’s death, the property passed into the hands of his second wife and nephew, Ezekiel Dickinson, and for many years the Dickinson family owned the property. Ex Historical Society of Pennsylvania. (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 1,000-1,500 SOLD for $2,100.00 Will close during Public Auction
3		Great Britain, Act of Queen Anne, 1710 -- An Act for Establishing a General Post-Office for all Her Majesties Dominions, and for Settling a Weekly Sum out of the Revenues thereof, for the Service of the War, and other Her Majesties Occasions.” Title page Anno Regni ANNAE REGINAE, Magnae Britanniae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, NONO. At the Parliament Begun and Holden at Westminster, the Twenty fifth Day of November, Anno Dom. 1710...”; printer’s imprint Printed by the Assigns of Thomas Newcomb, and Henry Hills, deceas’d; Printers to the Queens most Excellent Majesty. 1711.”; 14 pages numbered 287-311, folio, modern quarter calf and marbled boards, red morocco spine label with gilt lettering, black letter, in excellent condition. THIS EXTREMELY RARE PUBLICATION IS THE FIRST AUTHORIZED EDITION OF THE QUEEN ANNE POST OFFICE (REVENUES) ACT OF 1710, WHICH ESTABLISHED GREAT BRITAIN’S POST OFFICES IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES AND INTRODUCED STANDARD RATES FOR CALCULATING POSTAGE IN THE BRITISH ISLES AND COLONIES. From the 1660s until 1692, various efforts were made by individuals and colonial governments to establish posts in the American Colonies. In April 1692 the first British Parliamentary Act establishing a post office in North America gave the 21-year postal patent to Thomas Neale (1641-1699), a member of Parliament and Master of the Mint and the Transfer Office. Neale remained in England and assigned responsibility for establishing the postal system to Andrew Hamilton, who traveled to America and worked with various colonial governments to develop posts under the Neale Patent. After Neale’s death in 1699, the patent passed to Hamilton and another financial backer, Robert West. The posts in America were never profitable, and the Crown refused to support the enterprise. It effectively ended in 1707. [Source: Neale Patent Mail, 1693-1707,” Timothy P. O’Connor, M.D., Chronicle 237, February 2013]. Parliament’s interest in postal patents as a means to raise revenue grew from the need to finance the War of Spanish Succession, which lasted for virtually all of Queen Anne’s reign. The Post Office (Revenues) Act of November 25, 1710 -- the Act of Queen Anne -- was designed to raise revenue for the Treasury and extended the General Post Office’s authority to all of the colonies under British rule. Significantly, the new law established standard postage rates, prohibited private express carriers from transporting letters not related to goods they were carrying, and completely forbid stagecoach drivers from carrying mail. The full text of the law can be found at http://www.gbps.org.uk/information/sources/acts/1710-11-25_Act-9-Anne-cap-10.php The folio Act of November 25, 1710, is accompanied by two other printed documents: The London Gazette, June 28. 1711, with text of the Proclamation (and other news); and the official publication of the Act of August 17, 1839, the first of the British Postal Reform acts. (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 5,000-7,500 SOLD for $4,000.00 Will close during Public Auction
4		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1740, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover from England to John Reynell in Philadelphia, sender’s directive p Capt. Farmer”, receipt docketing From Daniel Flexney Rec’d 30th April 1740 Via N. York”, Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 400-500 SOLD for $500.00 Will close during Public Auction
5		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1741, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover from England to John Reynell in Philadelphia, sender’s directive pr Capt. Long By ye way of New York”, receipt docketing From Henton Brown, Rec’d 14 Octobr. 1741 Via New York”, slight toning along folds, Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 400-500 SOLD for $325.00 Will close during Public Auction
6		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1743, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover to John Reynell in Philadelphia, sender’s directive by Jos. Scott Cap. Cribb”, receipt docketing From Daniel Flexney, Rec. 28th Sepr. 1743 Via N. York p”, piece out of top panel does not affect appearance, Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 400-500 SOLD for $325.00 Will close during Public Auction
7		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1744, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover from England to John Reynell in Philadelphia, sender’s directive p Capt. Hilton”, receipt docketing From Daniel Flexney Rec’d 29 Decemb. 1744”, slight wear and toning along folds, still Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 400-500 SOLD for $250.00 Will close during Public Auction
8		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1748, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover to John Reynell in Philadelphia, sender’s directive p Capt. [Keltlass?] Via York } Q.D.C.”, receipt docketing From Edward Wilsonn, Receid. 24 August 1748 P Post”, small tear at top, slight toning, otherwise Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 400-500 SOLD for $250.00 Will close during Public Auction
9		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1749, *NY Sh: 6dwt: 16gr”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and double rate (6dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover to John Reynell in Philadelphia, receipt docketing From Lay & John Stevens Via York Recd. 26 Octobr. 1749”, creases in panels and slightly overlapping file fold, otherwise Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 300-400 SOLD for $225.00 Will close during Public Auction
10		England to Philadelphia via New York, 1750, *NY Sh: 3dwt: 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (3dwt plus 16gr ship fee) on folded cover from England to Israel Pemberton in Philadelphia, sender’s directive p Capn. Knox Via NYork”, forwarder’s notation (last name Hylton) dated Aug. 15, 1750, receipt docketing London 5mo 20th 1750 From John Huntt”, toned along folds, otherwise Very Fine (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 300-400 SOLD for $225.00 Will close during Public Auction
11		England to Philadelphia via Boston, 1758, *Bos Sh 7dwt 16grs”.* Manuscript ship-letter postmark and rate (7dwt plus 16grs ship fee) on folded cover to John Reynell in Philadelphia, forwarder’s notation Boston June 31st [sic] 1758 Rec’d and Forwarded by Sr Your most hu. servt. Nath. Barney”, receipt docketing From John Barrell jnr., Rece’d 12 of 7 mon: 1758”, small edge nick at top, slightly toned file fold, Fine, Nathaniel Barney is probably an ancestor of the prominent Quaker abolitionist of the same name (Image) Search for comparables at SiegelAuctions.com	E. $ 300-400 SOLD for $150.00 Will close during Public Auction